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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Integrity Toys has announced the second official W Club doll of 2014: Joyous Anniversary Poppy Parker. She is subtitled, Poppy Parker™ Fifth Anniversary Souvenir Doll, and retails for $120. She is available for preorder for W Club members only (one per member), and per club policy, pre-sales are not allowed. Her edition size is therefore not yet known.

She's estimated to ship in the fall of this year.

Her lovely gold brocade gown with pink petticoat is truly a nod to the 1960s fashion Poppy has come to represent. Her fashion is apparently inspired by a vintage Japanese Francie fashion, DS-2240, Ball Gown, from 1967, which was sold only on the Japanese market. (Thanks to Micheal Jarvis, for passing this info along, and saving me a lot of searching!)

Interestingly, I just did a post on dressing Poppy in vintage Francie fashions, and I think this doll is gorgeous! I'm thrilled to see this variation on a lovely fashion, made especially for Poppy.

This lovely doll uses the FR White skin town with applied lashes and beautiful grey eyes. She has a brunette braided updo, which I happen to like very much. (IT really can pull off these kind of braided updos without a hitch, and I am sure it will look neat and clean.) While not officially stated, I believe her facial screening is reminiscent of the ever-popular Bergdorf Poppy, and it's gorgeous and sophisticated.

Accessories are cute--matching pink kitten heels with bows, a pink clutch, rhinestone drop earrings and matching bracelet, and long white gloves. I'm sure she's going to be a hit with collectors!

Photos are property of Integrity Toys, aside from the vintage Francie fashion photo, which is borrowed from DollReference.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

I have to confess that when it comes to vintage Barbie and Francie, the fashion I love most seem to be the ones that are hardest to find. Whether it's the delicate tulle or metallic fabrics that don't last through children's play over the past 50+ years, or if it's the elusive Japanese exclusive that people just talk about, perhaps you find yourself with the same budgetary issues.

I've recently discovered that my small bust Integrity models (FR:Nippon's Amelie and Misaki--above--as well as Poppy Parker and friends) can often share outfits with Francie. While this won't save you anything as far as budget goes, let me direct you again to Silvia Campell of Snowdance Originals and Reproductions.

Some time ago, I have the absolute privilege to pick up this lovely Japanese Wedding Gown (original is on page 95 of Barbie in Japan), shown above as modeled by Misaki, as well as Silvia's version of Fall in the Air for Francie (page 99 of Barbie in Japan), modeled by Ask Any Girl Poppy Parker.

Please check out Silvia's website. The outfits do run around $125 and up, but you will indeed get amazing sets with serious attention to detail that I haven't seen elsewhere. While Fall in the Air is no longer in my collection, I really do miss it. I'm pining for a new fashion right this moment!

Tonner Doll's FAO exclusive doll, Macaw, is on a terrific sale (save 40% off the original retail price!) at Toys R Us. If you love the Antoinette body and the Flights of Fancy convention from 2012 was your look, this doll belongs in your collection.

Her sale price is $134.98 (down from originally $224.99) with free 2-day shipping from Toys R Us. You can hardly pass her up!

She uses the Antoinette head and body with light brown painted eyes, and rooted red hair. She includes a red dress with red, blue, blue, green and yellow ruffled cape, and includes blue beaded earrings. She also includes yellow and blue hair decoration, and silver platform shoes. She was limited to only 100 dolls, which is a pretty low edition size!

If you want to save even more, you can go through Ebates and receive 2% cash back from your purchase. When you sign up through my link, I get a bonus, if you haven't used Ebates before (you do, too, when you sign people up!). I think you also get a $5 bonus just for signing up--active with your first purchase. And every little bit adds up! Currently, my lifetime cash back is at $222.18--however, that does include my rather excessive Ulta and Sephora obsession!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

I'm afraid it may be some time before I can use my big (heavy) camera, so I'm sorry you'll have to suffer through these iPhone photos. I just couldn't wait to share Natural Beauty Tooka.

I haven't purchased any Dynamite Girls for a while--at least not for my own collection. However, Sooki is my favorite face sculpt, and to see her in this lovely A-tone skin really was a must-have for me. Honestly, though, I have to confess it was her tiny owl print dress that first grabbed my attention. It's so cute!

Integrity Toys promo photo

They have a new box style--a more recycled-looking box with a new logo--since the last time I've had any DGs go through my hands. The inner box top looks like this:

Whether it's actually recycled is another question. And a good one! I wonder if I can find out.

Tooka herself is gorgeous. As pretty as her promo photos, easily, in my opinion. The sheath dress is cotton, and IT did a great job with the fabric print. (I have a daughter whose favorite color is yellow, and who also happens to have a small fascination with owls.) In my personal opinion, the owls could have been just a teeny bit smaller, but I don't think their size is a big deal.

As you can see, she also includes a detailed denim jacket with buttons and pockets, though it only closes at the bottom with a hook and loop. I think this will be a fun layering piece, though, and it's very nicely done.

Her accessories are a great clutch, bangle bracelets, simple hoop earrings, and stunning tiny espadrilles.

Her hair is pretty wild out of the box--so long and curly--but super soft, too. It lends itself well to styling, so she's pretty versatile. I think the style suits her very well, and she's an absolutely adorable little doll for her price point--I think retail was $70. You really can't beat that!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

A new lovely Today's Momoko will be produced in a small quantity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Momoko fan club in Korea. She is a tan Momoko with a honey face! Something tells me she is going to be a popular doll for collectors.

She will be sold exclusively at mamaZdoll. According to PetWorks, inquiries (in English or Japanese) will be accepted at mamazdoll@naver.com as well as the website.

Want some special designs for you Momoko? I provide lots of dolly attire. Support an artist! Visit my website (MegannArt) for an Etsy shop, Twitter, Facebook (with occasional discounts), Pinterest page, and much more.

Pin 3 or more dolls from the 2014 release to a board of yours (one board per person).

Email the URL of your board to tonnersocialmedia@gmail.com with the Subject “2014 Tonner Pin To Win" and my name (Alison Rasmussen) as your referral. (We both get an extra entry if you use me as a referral, it turns out!)

That's it. A random name will be drawn on July 15, 2014. The winner will receive the doll or outfit that is pinned the most! Five runners up will receive a 15% off coupons for use at TonnerDoll.com.

Today is the last day to get a free Silkstone Barbie dress form (when you spend $50 or more) at Barbie Collector. It will be automatically added to your shopping cart, once you've added enough items. (You can use your $20 shop reward towards this purchase, if you like.)

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Well, it turns out my original intention to purchase just one Azone girl hasn't actually stuck. [snort] And it also turns out, Azone makes a bunch of different body sizes, and I know absolutely nothing about them. Many of the sizes are pretty close, so you can kind of share clothes, but some are different enough so sharing is not an option.

If you follow my blog, you're familiar with the main size difference--1:6 versus 1:12. And probably from the photo above, you can tell there's a difference between the two 1:12 bodies. Lipu (the maid) has the larger 1:12 body size, with a bigger head, hands and feet, and she is a little taller, too. Nanoha is the same size as the other Picco ExCute girls, only she's the first doll offered in white skin (at least in this size, I think).

Lipu, with her broom

Chiika and Aika, size comparison

Next--for the 1:6 size girls, it can be a little hard to tell, at first, unless you see then side-by-side. Well, except for Mio:

Mio

Mio uses a new body, I think, with a larger bust size than previously offered. At least, I don't have any other dolls with this body shape and this bust size. (It's kind of all I notice when I look at her, poor little thing!) I believe it's called the Deflection full mobile M/LL. When you compare her shape to the Lycee, who uses Flexion M, you can see the difference:

Lycee (Chocolate Mint Ice)

Then, we have the next smaller Flection body--this is the older body style, Pure Neemo Flexion S, though, as her arms don't move away from her body at the shoulders. (The body on newer dolls has arms that can extend up and out from the shoulder.)

Miu (Secret Wonderland store exclusive)

And finally, we've got the XS Flexion, who is somewhat shorter than the other girls. I believe the boys also use this body.

Chisa (Secret Garden)

The nice thing is that the hands are interchangeable on all of the 1:6 size dolls, as far as I can tell. Azone also marks the clothing as to which outfits will fit which bodies. If you prefer a particular body over any others, you have the option to purchase bodies separately, as well, which is a nice feature. Personally, I like having a variety. I wish the larger girls came in different colors, too. But they sure are fun! (And no, I'm not going to count how many I have.)

But I will take this moment and let you know that there are several available for preorder right now, and I actually did NOT order any of these, as cute as they are. Check out:

Monday, June 2, 2014

If you were waiting... Check out Fan Bingbing Barbie for $39.95. She's a pink label, sculpted to likeness, designed by Linda Kyaw. For some reason, I was thinking she wasn't going to be available in the US, but here she is! Kind of pretty... but I don't think I need her today.

Two new Sekiguchi Momoko are out, both called Harmony of Angels. They both come with a darling navy colored dress with lace trim, gold print, and a corset. The dolls also have a matching hair bow, white tights, and white mary-janes. The blond doll is called the Sunday version and her counterpart is Monday version, who sports slightly darker hair and braids.

The dolls are available for preorder through doll dealers. They each cost 12,800 yen.
Want some special designs for you Momoko? I provide lots of dolly attire. Support an artist! Visit my website (MegannArt) for an Etsy shop, Twitter, Facebook (with occasional discounts), Pinterest page, and much more.

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